Coin box



E. C. ARZIG April 1, 1958 COIN BOX 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 20. 1954 I 7 BMW! E. C. ARZIG April 1, 1958 COIN BOX 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 20. 1954 INVENTOR. (I

I :IZIIIIIZL' n Eda/card i/M,

United St ws Pa COIN ox Edward C. Arzig, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Miller Meters, Inc., a corporation of Illinois Application December 20, 1954, Serial No 476,370 r 2 Claims. 01. 232-15 This invention relates to a coin box, and particularly to a coin box adapted for use in conjunction :with. a parking meter. 7

It is the general object of the present invention to produce a new and improved coin box of the character described.

It is a more specific object of the present invention to produce a coin box which may be used either as a dump type box or a sealed box without the necessity of providing auxiliary mountings for the box.

of providing additional or alternative mounting meansor reconstructing the box. I I

Other and further objects-of the invention will be readily apparent from the following. description and drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a parking meter.-

embodying the coin box of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the parking of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the coin box .of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is an end view. of the meter coin box shown in: Fig.

3, reduced in size, and showing in solid lines the location.

of the closure in closed position andin'dotted lines the position of the closure when the coin, box is open;

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view'of the lower portion of the parking meter shown in Fig. 2 and-illustrating the door in opened position; 1

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 6-'-6 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is a verticalsectional view taken along line 7-7, a

of Fig. 6, and V V Fig. 8 is a horizontal sectional view along line 8-8 of Fig. 7. e

While there is shown inthe drawings and hereinafter described in detail 'a preferred form ofthe invention, it is to be understood that the invention is' not limited to the particular form and arrangement shown. It is contemplated that various changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

- It has been the common practice in the past to provide parking meters with either one of two coin box or coin collecting systems. The first and most simple form is a simple dump mechanism which permits immediate access to the collected coins upon opening 'a suitable door in the parking meter housing. Under this system the coins may be collected in a recess in the housing or in a suita;horizontal axis 'from the closed position illustrated-in 2,828,908 P en ed Apr, 1, 1958 able-coin box positioned in the recess and the collected coins are dumped by the collector into a bag or other container.

The'second system of coin collection employed in conjunction 'with parking meters is one which seeks to eliminate any temptation of the collector to appropriate for himself a portion of the coins which he collects from the parking meters. This second system employs a sealed box and it is the duty' of the collector to remove the sealed box from the parking meter housing and replace it with another sealed, but empty, boxto be collected at a later date. The sealed box containing'the collected coins is turnedover to a bank'or to specified city'or municipal ofiicials bythe collector, which person breaks these'al on the box and empties the contents therefrom. The box'may then b'eresealed'for future use. 4

As previously indicated, two different forms of housing or coin collecting devices were necessary to provide the two principal systems of coin collection. Thus, it for;

merly was necessary for a municipality to order parking meters of the dump 'type'or of the sealed box type and no inconsiderate amount of expense would be'involved if a municipality should seek to change from one system to the other. p

According to the presentinvention, however, there is provided a coin box and a mounting'therefor which may a single type of coin collecting system may be embodied in a parking meter, 'whi'ch system may then be employed either as a dump box or asealed box as the municipality other becomes extremely simple.

should desire,"and conversion from one system to the --Referring now to the drawings, there is: shown a park ing meter 10 provided with a transparent cover 11 en-' closing "flags 12 operated by a parking meter mechanism' 13. The parking'meter mechanism is positioned inan upper recess 14 of the parking meter housing 15. The housing 15 is formed'with a lower recess 16 separated from the upper recess by a horizontal plate 17 having a' coin discharge passage 18 therein.

' It is within the flower recess 16 that the coinbox 'of the present invention is'to 'be situatedand it willfbe' readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the coin box-"maybe; used with coin collecting mechanisms of types other than that illustrated herein.

I The lower recess 16 isclosed by a door 20 whichmay be lockedby' means of a lock 21 and whichis hinged at- 22 to the' hou'si'ng so that the door may pivot about Fig; 2 to'the open position illustrated'in Fig. 5.

V A coin box 25 is to be located within the recess 16 and forthis purpose is'made' generally rectangular in be secured to the door 'and'yet permit the latter to be opened and closed without interference from the box.

In order firmly to secure the coin box to the interior of the door andyet permit "its ready and easy'removal, there is provided a coil spring member 26 having its two ends secured to the interior of thedoor by means of a screw 27 and a strap 28 overlying the ends of the spring member and serving to hold them tightly against the door when the screw 27 .is tightened. The two coil portions 26a and 26b of the coil spring member 26 are spaced apart as shown in Fig.; 7. Parallel pivot portions 260 and 26d extend inwardly away from the door a substantial distance. The outer extremities of the pivot portions are joined by a bar portion 29 to form an engaging 3 portion which is engageable in the opening 31 provided in the bottom wall 33 of the coin box. Vertically spaced above the spring member 26 is a bracket 34 secured to the door, by means of screws 34a-and, 34b. The bracket is provided with two lugs35 and 36, each termina n in a downwardly extending prong portion 37,;and 38. The prong portions of the bracket are each engageable in notches 39 and 40 'instruck into the front wall 41 of the coin box, thereby holding the coin box in place relative to the door and against the upward urging of the spring member 26. t

To secure the coin box 25 to the interior of the door 20, the latter is swung to open .,position and the coin box positioned so as to engage the opening 31 in its bottom wall with the bar portion 29 of the coil spring member. As the coil spring member normally occupies the dotted line position shown in Fig. 6 wherein th e vertical distance between the bar portion 29 and theprong portions 37 and 38. of thebracket isless than the vertical spacing betweenthe opening .31, and thelinstruck notches 39 land 40, it is clear that the spring member must be tensionedhy pushing downwardly on ,the box inorder to engage the prong portions with the notches in the front wall 41. When this engagement has been made the box is firmly secured to the inside ofthe. door.

Whenthe coin box is .so secured to the door the coin discharge passage 18 is in alignment with a slot 42 provided in the top wall 43 of the box so that coins falling through the passage 18 are directed into the slot .42 and, thence, into the interior of the coin box. ,Pivotally mounted fingers 44 are provided on either sideof the slot 42 to prevent removal of coins deposited therein.

-The coin box is provided with an openable closure in the form of arear wall 45 slidably mounted on the box. For this purpose the .rear ,wall,45 is provided at each vertical edge with. a generally channel-shaped portion 46 and 47 enclosing anoutturned edge. and 49 provided on each of the side wa1ls50 ,and 51.

When itis desired to use the coin box of the present invention as a dump type box a means may be provided within the recess for sliding .openthewall 45 when;the,

door 20 f the housing isswung topped position. Thus, there may beprovidedwithinthe recess 16 a ball chain 53 removably secured, atone endl to. the rear wall -45 and at theother end to the interiorlof the housing, with the chain having a length'so that asthedoor20, is swung open the chain becomes taut andserves to slidethe door to open position, dumping the coins therein.

To limit the sliding movement'ofthe rear wall 45 a pair of protrusions 52, are formed. therein which arerto engage the top. wall ;43 ,after a predetermined opening movement of the rear wall. Such engagement not only halts further, movement of the rear wall but alsoof the door 20. When the door 20 is closed, the top of the sliding wall 45 contacts. the horizontal, plate 17 and thus slides the wall 45 to closed position as thedoor 20 is closed. 1 t

When it is desired to use thecoin box as asealed box, the ball chain SS may be removed'. It will be noted that the lower edge of the rear wall ,45 is provided with a pair of slits 56 positioned thereon to overlie and match a second pair of slits 57 provided in a member 58 secured to the bottom wall 33 and extending downwardly therefrom. A ribbon type seal 60 may be inserted through the aligned slits 56 and 57 which seal, if unbroken when 4 returned, indicates that no tampering with the box or its contents has occurred.

From the foregoing, it can be seen that the coin box of this invention may operate readily as a dump typc box, in which event it remains secured to the door of the parking meter housing, or it may be used as a scaled type box, in which event it may readily be removed from the housing door and replaced by a similarly constructed box suitably sealed.

.1 claim:

1. Coin receiving apparatus for a parking meter hous ing having a recess and a coin discharge passage opening into saidrecess, said coin receiving apparatus comprising a closure door for the recess, a spring member secured to the inside of the door and having a pivot portion extending away from the door a substantial distance and an engaging portion adjacent the extremity of said pivot portion, a bracket mounted on the inside of the door vertically spaced from the spring member, a coin box provided with first engaging means on the bottom wall thereof to engage said engaging portion of the spring member and second engaging means on a wall thereof uto engage the bracket, said first and second engaging means being vertically spaced apart a distance greater than the normal vertical distance between the engaging portion of the spring member and said bracket whereby said spring member must be tensioncd to engage its engaging portion with the first engaging means and the bracket with the second engaging means to attach the box to the door, and a coin slot in the top wall of the box positioned to be aligned with the coin discharge passage when said box is attached to the door.

2. Coin receiving apparatus for a parking meter housing having a recess and a coin discharge passage opening into said recess, said coin receiving apparatus comprising a closure door for the recess, a spring memher'secured to the inside of the door and having two parallel spaced 1 apart portions extending away from the door a substanz substantially rectangularly shaped coin box having a Width and height less than the corresponding dimensions of the door and provided with first engaging means on the bottom wall" thereof to engage said engaging portion of the spring member and second engaging means on a wall thereof to engage the bracket, said first and second engaging means being verticallyspaced apart a distance greater than the normal vertical-distance between the engaging portion of the spring. member and said bracket wherebysaid spring member must be tensioned to engage its'engaging portion with the 'first engaging means and the bracket with the second engaging means to attach the box to the door, and a coin slot in the top wall of the box positioned to be aligned with the coin discharge passage when said box is attached to the door.

ReferencesCited in the file of this patent 

